Navedenga 1998

Ernesto Neto's "Navedenga" is a walk-in sculpture, a suspended fabric environment, kind of like a giant, soft jellyfish. It's all about the experience of being inside something, enveloped by its form, the way light filters through, and the sense of enclosure. The fabric is stretched and pulled, shaped by gravity and tension and maybe some hidden weights. The artist is thinking about the material qualities of his chosen textile, exploring its potential to create an immersive space. See how the fabric hangs in soft curves and folds, creating a play of light and shadow? It reminds me of Lucio Fontana's slashed canvases but instead of piercing a two-dimensional surface he is creating a voluminous three-dimensional form. Neto shares a sensibility with Eva Hesse in his sensitivity to materials. Both are driven by a love of form, and allow the materials to dictate the final outcome. Like Hesse, Neto isn't trying to make a grand statement. The work is experiential, it’s about ambiguity, and how it feels to be inside a form, or, in this case, the question of what it means to be inside art.